The 29th Annual Dynamic Women Business Conference|HBS-Women’s Student Association
Illuminating many facets of Driving Change Together
I look forward to this annual event to tap into the thinking of a multi-generational and highly diverse speakers and audience. One has to keep in mind that the organizers are graduate students who design the agenda and panel to reflect their priorities as they prepare to exit a two year intensive business program and re-enter the workforce. What makes this event truly special is the incredibly open conversations and honest keynotes. Effectively it’s a “safe place” to air and share hopes, opportunities, experiences, challenges, and cautions to the next wave of organizational leaders. The messaging is not prescribed in any way. To wit, the opening keynote made specific point to remind us to “be kind” and one of the closing messages was “don’t be nice” (in the context of leading an organization). So truly, one has to peal back the onion and really understand the experiences of each speaker to calibrate the lessons learned for their own situation.
The opening tone was set by Carine Clark, a serial CEO whose talk revolved around the concept of “Decide Today.” Carine simply stunned the audience into submission with her powerful persona. Her natural inclination to choose “courage over comfort” and to define one’s own success was reinforced by her intimate personal story on how she confronted an ovarian cancer diagnosis and treatment. No doubt, facing the possibility of limited time to live one’s life helps sort out one’s priorities. Her personal and professional choices cut through the minutia and her methods are highly contagious. In short, get rid of the sentence “I am not (fill in the blank) enough,” Offer general pardons to people that you can’t change; Show your kindness and compassion for others every chance you get; Choose to be happy; Set yourself up to succeed in small steps so that you have a strong foundation; use your voice; pay attention to your intuition when things rub you the wrong way – investigate further; and stay away from “energy vampires.” Carine is a realist and an optimist – a powerful combination.
The opening Fireside chat was moderated by Francesca Gino, Professor at Harvard Business School and author of Rebel Talent who interviewed Lydia Gilbert, Co-Founder & President at Dia&Co who truly broke all the rules of the fashion industry with her focus on the over size-14 customer and using her own savvy to help an under-served market. The message from this interaction was that passion, understanding the market dynamics, and finding a strong co-founder can overcome lack of direct experience in an industry.
There were many panels from which to choose but I was drawn to Leading Global Businesses so I could evaluate what has changed since my own experience of working and living overseas. It was a thoughtful panel that crossed the skincare, logistics, and IT/Healthcare fields. Margaret Dunlap – Northeast District Director of Marketing, UPS; Funke Faweya – Arami Essentials; and Patty Carrolo – General Manager, IBM Global Healthcare and Life Sciences.
I was impressed by each panelist’s passion and drive for having a place at the global table. Whereas the technologies and tools make it more practical than it was in the past, the fundamental sensitivities around organizational dynamics across cultures has not changed. Asking questions and being humble are key. Universally, developing cross cultural “relationships” are still at the core of success. Respect comes from a combination of one’s expertise and their ability to tune-in to the business practices and sensitives of their cultures. All panelists urged the audience members to actively seek out and prepare for global positions in their organizations as there is much competition for these roles. The payoff is the chance to exercise extensive creative problem solving and learning. HOWEVER, some believed one has to be an expat and others took the path of working US based to run global enterprises. Each is driven by and has a unique impact on one’s personal circumstances.
Out of curiosity for how all the “type A’s” are functioning, I pivoted to The Role of Physical & Mental Wellness in Career panel. This was a health-care powerhouse panel consisting of: Dr. Joanne Dushay – Endocrinologist, Beth Israel (Panel Moderator); Julie Sharma – Co-founder, meditation.live (a/k/a Wellness Coach); Dr. Bonnie Wong – Director, Neuropsychology Program, at Mass General Hospital; Aditi Nerurkar – MD MPH Integrative medicine doctor, author, medical correspondent and yogi; and Karen Smyers – World-Champion Triathlete. The universal message here was that physical and mental well-being are intimately linked. Multiple examples were given about how “burnout” can cause extreme harm to one’s physical well-being including disease. Adida provided insight on “stress equalizers” – sleep, diet, exercise, social support, and stress management. Julie Sharma is dedicating her business to making the wellness as “accessible” as possible through her efforts. Physical and mental well-being needs to be prioritized and ones approach doesn’t have to be extreme, but should be consistent. There were no incredible surprises in the findings, but rather a review of new tools and validation of our instincts in this arena. Additionally, there is a rise of new medical fields and specialties that are addressing the intersection of the physical and mental. My takeaway is to keep these experts’ names in your address book! We will all need to call on them.
By far the LIVELIEST of panels was The Only Woman at the Table. It included a group that addressed the topic from a variety of perspectives; Leslie Danford – Region Head Midwest, OYO USA; Kat Marran – VP of US Marketing, UPS; Elodie Dupuy – Founder and Managing Director, Full In Partners; Manjula Tiwari – CEO Future Style Lab, Future Group; and Janae Walker – Vice President-Legal, Acquisitions and Innovation at American Tower Corporation. There was a wide range of experiences and advice but the common theme was that ALL diverse groups have to hone their voice at the table and refuse to be “talked over.” The approaches can be collaborative or in some cases require one to be combative – or subtle and humorous. Tips include, “don’t make it about you.” Remember to ask for what you want. Measure what matters. Own the change. Remember what others fought for, we have the responsibility to pay forward. Your voice is not related to your title. But earn your place at the table and don’t overthink or second guess yourself once you are there. Special acknowledgement to Elodie for her pioneering efforts in the investment industry and for her energetic candor and feisty, no holes barred storytelling. Kudos to Manjula who is galvanizing the women of India through her entrepreneurial example as they are the fastest growing segment of entrepreneurs.
The day wrapped up with Deborah Singer, CMO at Girls Who Code, followed by Emmanuelle Skala, SVP of Customer Success at Toast; and Tracey Zhen, President at Zipcar. Deborah’s challenge is to drive culture change. Prior to 1980 woman had actually reached parity in computing employment. Then in the 80’s the major brands created boy-centric themes. Deborah engaged and delighted the audience with powerful video clips that challenged the old stereotypes including the one run at the SuperBowl with Olay. Alongside the strong visual campaign is an activism track including the first Digital March. Their impact is being felt. Today, the organization encompasses 185,000 girls in after school computer related clubs.
Emmanuelle teed up a series of “Lessons Learned” along her ambitious efforts in the tech industry. She put hard work up front and center as the multiplier for talent in a competitive environment. She doesn’t mind being controversial and her team that was in the audience confirmed that she is a tough grader. Emmanuelle endorses a concept called “setting fears” vs setting goals to help deconstruct things that are holding you back. Her reflections on her own experiences demonstrated a very different picture than other speakers and provided an alternative approach to successful leadership. She turned many leadership assumptions on their head.
Tracey Zhen took over as President of ZipCar in 2017. It’s hard to believe that this company was founded before we had most of the tech tools we have today. At this stage in the business, Tracey’s focus is on significant growth and expansion beyond the 500 cities and 1M members. What she shared with the audience was her deeply personal story about how she created a path for herself from an investment banker, looking at how others ran a business, to literally, being in the driver’s seat where she can make an impact. It was a powerful example for the audience in the room.
The 29th Annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference did not 
disappoint. The energy in the room was uplifting. These are women of action, women that want to help each other, and women we will all continue to watch drive change.